Temperatures stayed below zero as hundreds of thousands could only wait for their electricity to be restored after a devastating winter storm that has been blamed for at least 19 deaths across the US.
DANGER AT HOME
In the latest in a string of incidents, icy weather had a hand in the deaths of four St Louis residents, city officials said on Sunday.
Two men died of suspected carbon monoxide poisoning after they tried to keep warm by burning coal on their stove.
One man was found dead in his yard -- the cause of death possibly being hypothermia -- and an elderly man was found dead at the bottom of his home's stairs, the officials said.
CONTINUED RISKS
"This is not over. As long as the power is still out, there are still people at risk," St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay said.
Temperatures hovered around -6oC on Sunday.
City officials encouraged people to stay at temporary shelters rather than try to tough it out in residences without power.
The storm was blamed for at least 15 other deaths as it continued to spread ice and deep snow from Texas and up to Michigan and then blew through the Northeast late on Friday night and early on Saturday morning.
STRANDED TRAVELERS
Thousands of travelers were stranded by canceled flights, clogged highways and stalled trains.
By Sunday afternoon, about 350,000 customers of St Louis-based Ameren Corp were without electricity across a roughly 485km swath of land stretching from Jackson, Missouri, all the way to Pontiac, Illinois, company spokeswoman Susan Gallagher said.
The utility would not offer an estimate on when power would be restored.
At the peak of the power outages on Friday, 510,000 customers were without power, Gallagher said.
Hundreds of thousands also lost power in the other states hit by the storm.
REVENGE: Trump said he had the support of the Syrian government for the strikes, which took place in response to an Islamic State attack on US soldiers last week The US launched large-scale airstrikes on more than 70 targets across Syria, the Pentagon said on Friday, fulfilling US President Donald Trump’s vow to strike back after the killing of two US soldiers. “This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance,” US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote on social media. “Today, we hunted and we killed our enemies. Lots of them. And we will continue.” The US Central Command said that fighter jets, attack helicopters and artillery targeted ISIS infrastructure and weapon sites. “All terrorists who are evil enough to attack Americans are hereby warned
Seven wild Asiatic elephants were killed and a calf was injured when a high-speed passenger train collided with a herd crossing the tracks in India’s northeastern state of Assam early yesterday, local authorities said. The train driver spotted the herd of about 100 elephants and used the emergency brakes, but the train still hit some of the animals, Indian Railways spokesman Kapinjal Kishore Sharma told reporters. Five train coaches and the engine derailed following the impact, but there were no human casualties, Sharma said. Veterinarians carried out autopsies on the dead elephants, which were to be buried later in the day. The accident site
RUSHED: The US pushed for the October deal to be ready for a ceremony with Trump, but sometimes it takes time to create an agreement that can hold, a Thai official said Defense officials from Thailand and Cambodia are to meet tomorrow to discuss the possibility of resuming a ceasefire between the two countries, Thailand’s top diplomat said yesterday, as border fighting entered a third week. A ceasefire agreement in October was rushed to ensure it could be witnessed by US President Donald Trump and lacked sufficient details to ensure the deal to end the armed conflict would hold, Thai Minister of Foreign Affairs Sihasak Phuangketkeow said after an ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting in Kuala Lumpur. The two countries agreed to hold talks using their General Border Committee, an established bilateral mechanism, with Thailand
‘POLITICAL LOYALTY’: The move breaks with decades of precedent among US administrations, which have tended to leave career ambassadors in their posts US President Donald Trump’s administration has ordered dozens of US ambassadors to step down, people familiar with the matter said, a precedent-breaking recall that would leave embassies abroad without US Senate-confirmed leadership. The envoys, career diplomats who were almost all named to their jobs under former US president Joe Biden, were told over the phone in the past few days they needed to depart in the next few weeks, the people said. They would not be fired, but finding new roles would be a challenge given that many are far along in their careers and opportunities for senior diplomats can
RSS